Action Alerts

Tell the Obama administration that we need a responsible plan to manage Wyoming’s wolf population — one based on sound science, not politics. Under this deal, wolves in most of the state could be chased to exhaustion and gunned down by anyone at any time. This would have a devastating impact on Wyoming’s wolf population.

An unorthodox way to end animal testing
The Fraunhofer Institute IGB is fine-tuning the automation of skin growth from pre-existing cells in hopes of replacing other methods of product testing including animal trials, the laboratory says. “We want to target chemical, cosmetic or pharmaceutical companies who need human tissue to develop their products,” Professor Heike Walles, Head of Cell Systems at the institute, said. “The idea is to grow human tissue that can be used as an alternative to animal testing, not least because many medicines cause side-effects during clinical [human] trials that were not present during animal trials.”

Federal agency scales back Nevada mustang roundup
Federal land managers said on Wednesday they have decided to scale back a disputed roundup of wild horses in Nevada next month and to postpone the planned castration of stallions as part of the operation. The decision comes a week after a group of wild-horse activists filed suit challenging plans by the Bureau of Land Management, a U.S. Interior Department agency, to geld 200 wild stallions over a six- to 10-year period.

İstanbul mayor pushes animal rights to forefront of agenda
Monday marked the end of a three-month project by the İstanbul municipality’s “Existing is a Right, Love for Animals and Animal Rights,” a program which has seen 10,000 children educated on the importance of respecting every form of life on Earth. Speaking at the concert, İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş underlined the importance of recognizing animal rights. Addressing a range of animal rights-related issues, Topbaş announced that the municipality has decided to close down the İstanbul-based Dolphinarium Dolphin Display Center when its contract expires in two years time. “You can’t base entertainment around a process that makes animals suffer and causes them pain,” he said.

Pigeons’ math skills are as good as monkeys’
Pigeons perform just as well on certain math tests as monkeys do, scientists in New Zealand have found. “Our findings add to a growing body of evidence that pigeons are among a number of avian species exhibiting impressive mental abilities that really do give the lie to the old ‘bird brain’ insult.”

Animal Rights Group Uses Drones To Track Down Japanese Whalers
A group of infamously aggressive whale-hunting opponents say that they have tracked down and photographed hunters participating in Japan’s annual Antarctic whale hunt using an unpiloted drone aircraft to spot their ship. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said it was able to locate the Japanese ship the Nisshin Maru off the western coast of Australia over the weekend using the unmanned aircraft.

The Mainstreaming of Vegan Diets
Vegan diets are considered by some to be extreme, a strict way of eating that exists on the radical fringes of vegetarianism. But today, a growing number of people are giving vegan diets a second look, and nutritionists now believe that a well-thought-out vegan eating plan could be the most healthy way to live for most people.

Human noise may cause decompression sickness in sea mammals
For the first time, whales and seals have been found to suffer from ‘the bends’ – the crippling ‘decompression’ sickness divers suffer when they surface too quickly. The research also suggests that excessive human noise – such as exposure to military sonar – might disorient whales and seals, leading to them losing their natural defences against the disease.

USDA files complaint against Topeka Zoo
Federal investigators have filed an administrative complaint against the Topeka Zoo alleging the zoo “willfully violated” regulations, some of which occurred under the new director’s watch. The complaint highlights that at least nine infant, juvenile or young adult animals died during the period of inspections listed — three flying foxes, a Southern tamandua, a lion, a Pallas’s cat, a Harlequin rabbit, a pronghorn antelope and a chevrotain.

Ex-Governor’s Partner Targets Tiger Bone Trade
From the comforts of a 100-year-old Georgian Colonial he shares here with former Gov. James McGreevey, his partner, Mark O’Donnell has become the unlikely champion of legislation that could give New Jersey some of the nation’s toughest anti-tiger trafficking laws.

This week, NARN recognizes that many people are very busy preparing for the holidays, so this week, instead of asking people to contact their representatives or write letters, we’d like to encourage you to suppose vegan businesses and products.

Elevation of the Chimp May Reshape Research
When Dr. Francis S. Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, announced Thursday that the government would halt all new grants for research on chimpanzees, it was, in one sense, a familiar Washington moment. …So, while it would be wrong to make too much of Dr. Collins’s stance, it would be a mistake to make too little. The moratorium on grants is real, and the public recognition of a lab animal as a relative carries weight. Public words have political effects. Consider the ways officials describe other humans — as freedom fighters, terrorists, allies, enemies, evildoers. No other species parses its public utterances as closely as we do.
Alternatives to Medical Testing on Chimpanzees
Aside from the small African country of Gabon, the U.S. is the only nation in the world that still conducts research on chimpanzees. Last Thursday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced new guidelines stating that most chimp research is not medically necessary.

Animal Research’s Changing Equation
Gavels and courtrooms are replacing placards and bullhorns, says the biomedical research community, as determined legal eagles work to increase animals’ rights and possibly even grant them “personhood.”
This is the first of several stories exploring the contentious relationship between the scientific community that insists animal research is essential to medical progress and the animal rights activists working to abolish animal experimentation. In part two, we examine the push to grant animals “personhood.”

Russian ban ‘spells the end of Canadian sealing,’ activists say
Canada’s biggest market for seal skin has closed its doors, saying it will no longer accept the pelts in any form – a move animal-rights activists say heralds the end of this country’s commercial seal industry. Russia, along with Belarus and Kazakhstan, have informed the World Trade Organization that, effective last August, they have banned the import and export of raw, tanned and dressed fur skin of harp seals and their pups.

USDA: Horse Slaughter Not Expected to Resume Soon
Horse processing at U.S.-based plants is not expected to get under way soon according to a statement posted on a White House petition website this week. In her statement Hagen said, “While Congress has technically lifted the ban, USDA does not expect horse slaughter to resume in the near term as a number of federal, state, and local requirements and prohibitions remain in place. Furthermore, there have been no requests that the department initiate the authorization process for any horse slaughter operation in the United States at this time.”

How do you inspire others to go vegan?
When I first transitioned into my meat-free diet five years ago, I was on a mission to convert everyone around me. I wasn’t persuaded by a friend, I just stumbled across a video of a slaughterhouse one day, then started doing more research. I had finally learned the ugly truth and I felt that it was my duty to spread my newfound knowledge. Parading around and telling my friends and family they were horrible people for consuming animals did not help the cause at all. After a couple weeks, I realized that my tactics were doing more harm than good. Nobody wants to be shamed into new eating habits and nobody likes a snobby vegan. If I wanted to make any difference, I needed to find new ways to convince people.

Animal of the Year: The 2011 Distinction That Really Matters
Sure, TIME unveiled its Person of the Year, The Protester, on Wednesday. But isn’t the whole Person of the Year concept a little, well, species-ist? Being the animal lovers that we are at NewsFeed, we couldn’t help but take a moment to recognize the non-human accomplishments of 2011.

Man who cares for abandoned animals in Fukushima zone refuses to leave home
Every day, Matsumura spends several hours walking around the town, feeding wandering animals with food sent by humane societies. The animals include dozens of dogs and cats, around 400 cows, and even escaped ostriches. “It’s what I can do, having returned to the town,” says MatsumuraHow Many Vegetarians Are Out There?
Among the highlights of survey, methodology for which appears below, approximately 5 percent of the country said they never eat meat, fish, seafood, or poultry. About half of these vegetarians are also vegan, meaning that they also don’t eat dairy or eggs.

Texas Drought Takes Cow Numbers Down by 600K
Since Jan. 1, the number of cows in Texas has dropped by about 600,000, a 12 percent decline from the roughly 5 million cows the state had at the beginning of the year, said David Anderson, who monitors beef markets for the Texas AgriLife Extension Service…Oklahoma, the nation’s second-largest cattle producer, also saw about a 12 percent drop in cows, Oklahoma State University agriculture economist Derrell Peel said..The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that beef prices will increase up to 5.5 in 2012, in part because the number of cattle has declined. That follows a 9 percent increase in beef prices in the past year.

Tell the Seattle City Council to Support the Release the Woodland Park Zoo Elephants
Chai was artificially inseminated for the 59th time this week. Please write a short, polite e-mail to the Seattle City Council members letting them know you oppose this callous disregard for the welfare of the calf and Chai. Also ask for the release of Bamboo, Chai and Watoto to the 2,700 acre Elephant Sanctuary where they can live with a modicum of dignity and heal from their impoverished lives at Woodland Park Zoo.

Tell Airlines to Stop Shipping Monkeys to Be Tortured
Please be a voice for the monkeys who are suffering in the primate trade. Take a minute of your time now to urge airlines that still transport monkeys to U.S. laboratories to join their peers and adopt a formal policy against the transportation of nonhuman primates for use in experiments.

Almost every major airline in the world—including Delta Airlines, Qantas, American Airlines, British Airways, Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific and dozens of others—refuses to take any part in this violent industry and prohibits the transportation of primates to laboratories. However, an increasingly small group of airlines—including Air Canada, Air China, Air France, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Philippine Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines—continues to profit from animals’ misery by transporting monkeys destined for U.S. laboratories.

Every year, tens of thousands of nonhuman primates are transported from countries such as China, Mauritius, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia to the U.S. to be imprisoned in laboratories and tormented in experiments. Some are bred in captivity in cramped, squalid monkey factory farms, while others are stolen from their families in the wild.
The traumatized monkeys are crammed into small wooden crates and transported in the backs of trucks and the dark and terrifying cargo holds of planes, often on passenger flights just below unsuspecting customers.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, nearly 23,000 nonhuman primates were brought into the U.S. in 2010—nearly all of them destined for laboratories. Nearly 3,000 monkeys were imported by animal testing conglomerate Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories (SNBL), where recent photos and video footage leaked by a whistleblower show sick, distraught monkeys suffering horribly from tests in which they were injected with experimental chemicals.

PLEASE CALL Princeton University TODAY to protest their abusive primate experimentation — 609-258-6100 — THESE EXPERIMENTS MUST END NOW!

Princeton University has violated the Animal Welfare Act in experiments that abuse primates: Click HEREto read USDA Violations, July 2011

These experiments deprive primates of water, confine them to restraint chairs, and bolt devices into their skulls: Click HEREto read research protocol.

A whistleblower from within Princeton has leaked photos [warning, graphic]: Click HERE to see whistleblower’s photos.

Tell the University of Washington to End Use of Animals in Pediatrics Residency Program

Tell University of Washington president Michael Young to replace the use of ferrets and rabbits in the school of medicine’s pediatrics residency program with validated human-based training methods. Please be polite and encouraging.

Here are some talking points:
Please replace the use of animals in UW’s pediatrics residency program.
Anatomical and physiological differences between ferrets and rabbits and humans render this type of training inferior.
UW is part of a shrinking minority of pediatrics residencies (six percent) that still use live animals for training.
High-fidelity simulators such as Gaumard’s Premie HAL and PREMIE Blue accurately replicate the airway of a premature newborn and allow for data collection.
UW already has a state-of-the-art simulation center that can easily provide nonanimal training methods.

National Call-in for Chimp Protection Legislation
Please call your members of Congress during National Call-In Week and ask them to co-sponsor the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S. 810/H.R. 1513), which will end painful experiments on chimpanzees.

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS
All you need to say is, “I’d like [senator/representative] to co-sponsor the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S. 810/H.R. 1513). I think experimenting on chimpanzees is both unethical and a wasteful use of taxpayer money. This bill will prevent animal suffering, while saving us $300 million over 10 years.”
Join our fight to end the unethical and ineffective use of chimpanzees in experimentation. Your members of Congress need to know that you care about this issue.

For the Horses: Occupy Obama’s Phone Line
Call and email President Obama and leave a message about recent legislation he signed that opens the door to horse slaughter in the U.S. and say:

Is this the legacy you really want to leave?
Keep your promise!
Pass an Executive Order NOW.

Zoo artificially inseminates elephant again
Woodland Park Zoo and a visiting expert in elephant reproduction performed an artificial insemination procedure last night on Chai, the zoo’s 32-year-old Asian elephant.This is the third artificial insemination attempt on Chai this year and 59th time total, according to animal-activists organization, Friends of the Woodland Park Zoo Elephants.
Also see this article

SAEN accuses University of rat abuse
According to the account by an anonymous former laboratory employee, the rats were not given food or water in what was perhaps a miscommunication between animal staff and research staff. Two of the rats starved to death after a period of days and those remaining needed to be euthanized. Rats and mice are specifically excluded from the Animal Welfare Act even though they are the most commonly used creatures in research. Also excluded are birds, horses and other farm animals. The AWA is the only U.S. legislation of its kind that protects research animals.

Rats Show Empathy And Altruistic Behavior, New Study Claims
According to a new study in the December 9 issue of Science, rats are surprisingly selfless, consistently breaking friends out of cages — even if freeing their buddies means having to share coveted chocolate. It seems that empathy and self-sacrifice have a greater evolutionary legacy than anyone expected.

In Israel, Declawing Your Cat Could Get You Jail Time
Late last month, Israel’s legislature passed a bill that outlaws the practice of declawing cats, a move that is a win for animal activists, but devastating to fancy couches and rugs across the country. And the letter of law comes with a hefty pricetag — a $20,000 fine and up to one year in jail.

Smithfield to stop using gestation crates for pigs
Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s largest pork producer, said Thursday it plans to end the practice of keeping pregnant hogs at the company’s farms in small metal crates. The Smithfield, Va.-based company, which has been criticized for continuing to breed sows in gestation crates that severely restrict the animals’ movement, said it will phase out the use of gestation crates at its facilities by 2017. By the end of this year, the company said that 30 percent of the sows at its farms will be in group housing rather than the crates.

After Duty, Dogs Suffer Like Soldiers
If anyone needed evidence of the frontline role played by dogs in war these days, here is the latest: the four-legged, wet-nosed troops used to sniff out mines, track down enemy fighters and clear buildings are struggling with the mental strains of combat nearly as much as their human counterparts.

Possible animal abuse fuels 2012 ballot initiative
Its cases like these ones that keep Virginia Hemingway who is the President of Idaho 1 of 3 Inc. moving forward on an initiative that would make animal abuse a felony in Idaho. She said Idaho is one of 3 states that don’t issue felonies for animal abusers.

The new war on wolves
Congress removed wolves in Montana and Idaho from the protection of the Endangered Species Act in April. And this fall, the killing began. As of Wednesday, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reported that 154 of its estimated 750 wolves had been “harvested” this year. Legal hunting and trapping — with both snares to strangle and leg traps to capture — will continue through the spring. And if hunting fails to reduce the wolf population sufficiently — to less than 150 wolves — the state says it will use airborne shooters to eliminate more.

How Many Adults Are Vegan in the U.S.?
With numerous groups pushing Meatless Mondays, Tofurky Tuesdays, or other campaigns to cut back on meat one meal or day per week, The Vegetarian Resource Group wondered how often Americans are eating vegetarian meals. In order to find an estimate, VRG commissioned Harris Interactive® to conduct a national telephone poll.

Tell Airlines to Stop Shipping Monkeys to Be Tortured
Please be a voice for the monkeys who are suffering in the primate trade. Take a minute of your time now to urge airlines that still transport monkeys to U.S. laboratories to join their peers and adopt a formal policy against the transportation of nonhuman primates for use in experiments.

Almost every major airline in the world—including Delta Airlines, Qantas, American Airlines, British Airways, Aer Lingus, Cathay Pacific and dozens of others—refuses to take any part in this violent industry and prohibits the transportation of primates to laboratories. However, an increasingly small group of airlines—including Air Canada, Air China, Air France, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Philippine Airlines, and Vietnam Airlines—continues to profit from animals’ misery by transporting monkeys destined for U.S. laboratories.

Every year, tens of thousands of nonhuman primates are transported from countries such as China, Mauritius, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia to the U.S. to be imprisoned in laboratories and tormented in experiments. Some are bred in captivity in cramped, squalid monkey factory farms, while others are stolen from their families in the wild.
The traumatized monkeys are crammed into small wooden crates and transported in the backs of trucks and the dark and terrifying cargo holds of planes, often on passenger flights just below unsuspecting customers.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, nearly 23,000 nonhuman primates were brought into the U.S. in 2010—nearly all of them destined for laboratories. Nearly 3,000 monkeys were imported by animal testing conglomerate Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories (SNBL), where recent photos and video footage leaked by a whistleblower show sick, distraught monkeys suffering horribly from tests in which they were injected with experimental chemicals.

PLEASE CALL Princeton University TODAY to protest their abusive primate experimentation — 609-258-6100 — THESE EXPERIMENTS MUST END NOW!

Princeton University has violated the Animal Welfare Act in experiments that abuse primates: Click HEREto read USDA Violations, July 2011

These experiments deprive primates of water, confine them to restraint chairs, and bolt devices into their skulls: Click HEREto read research protocol.

A whistleblower from within Princeton has leaked photos [warning, graphic]: Click HERE to see whistleblower’s photos.

Tell the University of Washington to End Use of Animals in Pediatrics Residency Program

Tell University of Washington president Michael Young to replace the use of ferrets and rabbits in the school of medicine’s pediatrics residency program with validated human-based training methods. Please be polite and encouraging.

Here are some talking points:
Please replace the use of animals in UW’s pediatrics residency program.
Anatomical and physiological differences between ferrets and rabbits and humans render this type of training inferior.
UW is part of a shrinking minority of pediatrics residencies (six percent) that still use live animals for training.
High-fidelity simulators such as Gaumard’s Premie HAL and PREMIE Blue accurately replicate the airway of a premature newborn and allow for data collection.
UW already has a state-of-the-art simulation center that can easily provide nonanimal training methods.

National Call-in for Chimp Protection Legislation
Please call your members of Congress during National Call-In Week and ask them to co-sponsor the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S. 810/H.R. 1513), which will end painful experiments on chimpanzees.

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS
All you need to say is, “I’d like [senator/representative] to co-sponsor the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (S. 810/H.R. 1513). I think experimenting on chimpanzees is both unethical and a wasteful use of taxpayer money. This bill will prevent animal suffering, while saving us $300 million over 10 years.”
Join our fight to end the unethical and ineffective use of chimpanzees in experimentation. Your members of Congress need to know that you care about this issue.

For the Horses: Occupy Obama’s Phone Line
Call and email President Obama and leave a message about recent legislation he signed that opens the door to horse slaughter in the U.S. and say:

Is this the legacy you really want to leave?
Keep your promise!
Pass an Executive Order NOW.

Calendar

January2019

NARN's board of directors meets monthly to discuss our campaigns and administrative issues. Guests are welcome to attend if we have enough time on our agenda.

If you wish to have an agenda item added to the NARN Board Meeting, please email info@narn.org at least a day in advance. You can also send us a message on Facebook anytime or even the day of the meeting and we'll get back to you. All NARN Board Meetings are held in Seattle.

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 3pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by our desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join us in providing free, educational information to the public about the dangers of supporting backyard breeding practices and puppy mills, the importance of spaying and neutering pets, the time and money it takes to responsibly care for a living creature, and the positive effects of screening pet owners through application processes.

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2093159060741059/

Come join us for a delicious brunch at the fabulous Celest Cafe AND write some letters for animals.

NARN provides the stationery, pens, stamps, sample letters, and ideas for what to write -- just bring yourself. You can even bring your laptop if you'd prefer to type or email your letters!

Why letter writing? Letter writing is a simple way to make change for the animals! At our letter writing events, we write for many different reasons: opposition to the creation of new animal laboratories, support for sending animals to sanctuary, promotion of vegan events and issues through letters to the media, and raising the spirits of activists and comrades who have been jailed for their pro-animal and political actions!

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 6pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by their desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join them in providing free, educational information to the public

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/512061562622307/

The University of Washington's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) will be meeting to discuss various research protocols (study designs). This is your chance to voice your opinion about the research on animals that goes on at the UW. Please come and speak for the animals!
The meetings are held at the South Campus Center; Room #342 (in between San Juan Road & Columbia Road); behind the Magnuson Health Sciences Center (1925 N.E. Pacific St) )
http://www.washington.edu/maps/

Unfortunately, they frequently re-schedule or cancel their meetings in an attempt to avoid the public, so please call the Public Affairs Office at 206-543-9180 to make sure the meeting is still happening at the given time.
You can also check out their calendar here (copy & paste link into your browser)
http://oaw.washington.edu/iacuc-meeting-schedule/

This month we will be checking out Travelers Thali House. They have tons of vegan options. See their menu here:
http://www.travelersthalihouse.com/Menu102014.html
The Social Discussion Group is a casual event. Drinkers and non-drinkers are welcome, and you don't have to be vegetarian to participate. We hope you'll join us! Questions? Contact rachel[at]narn[dot]org

Join local activists to help educate the public about the dangers of purchasing dogs from places like Puppyland. Puppyland is a new store in Puyallup that sells puppies from breeders.

The demo is until 3pm, but don't feel that you have to be there the entire time. Come for an hour or two to help hand out fliers or hold a sign.

This is a peaceful demonstration, inspired by their desire to speak out against the dangers of allowing businesses like Puppyland to exist in our communities. Join them in providing free, educational information to the public

For updates see the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/406570843449273/

La Cocina School at El Centro de la Raza will be offering a tasty Vegan Tamales Cooking Class in partnership with the Food Empowerment Project! Now is your chance to learn how to make vegan tamales from a master tamalera! The tamales are prepared in the handmade and traditional fashion using cultural ingredients. Sweet sangrias, beer and wine will also be served and is included in the ticket price.

Class will begin promptly at 10:00 AM in the kitchen at El Centro de la Raza. Classes typically take 2.5 to 3 hours long. All cooking supplies and ingredients will be provided, but please bring your own apron.

The money for the La Cocina School at El Centro de la Raza Latin Cooking Classes go to fund El Centro de la Raza's Senior programs.

For updates on this event see
https://www.facebook.com/events/2404477662895760/